California’s 1889 Point Sur Lighthouse in Big Sur, California will soon be getting its giant 4,330 pound first order Fresnel lens back, thanks to a recent agreement between the United States Coast Guard, The California State Parks, and the Central Coast Light Keepers.

The magnificent lens was used in the lantern at Point Sur Lighthouse until 1978 when it was removed, disassembled, and then reassembled in what was then the Allen Knight Maritime Museum of Monterey. At that time, an aero-beacon was installed in the lantern of the Point Sur Lighthouse.

Again the lens was disassembled and shipped in pieces to the California State Parks office in Monterey to be restored by noted lampist Chad Kaiser, only to be again disassembled and then put into storage to hopefully be reinstalled into the Point Sur Lighthouse lantern later this summer.

This story appeared in the
Jan/Feb 2018 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.